YHOO to Scrutinize Bottom 20% of Staff, Says AllThingsD

By Tiernan Ray

In case you missed it, AllThingsD‘s Kara Swisherthis evening writes that Yahoo! (YHOO) is looking to implement a review of performance of the “bottom 20%” of its staff, which could results in “cutbacks in compensation” or “moving them out of Yahoo entirely,” citing multiple unnamed sources.

Swisher writes that the potential layoffs are part of multiple changes at Yahoo! that may also involve eliminating the week of paid vacation between Christmas and New Years that Yahoo! has provided by running with essential staff only.

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There are 14 comments

NOVEMBER 16, 2012 10:37 P.M.

every new management wants to downsize at Yahoo wrote:

but every time they give big salaries and bonuses to the new management. May be that is how tech companies ?
Is yahoo legacy(PC/Web portal) employees relevant in this mobile environment. I think www is dying.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 3:49 A.M.

maveOn wrote:

its y!. Do we care?

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 5:17 A.M.

Wisdom wrote:

Investor get out clear sign Merrissa or whatever her name is has no clue, so then find some scapegoats, reduces cost, gives managers chance to get rid of people they dont like some justifiable most not .......typical silicon valley BS., been going on for years!

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 8:29 A.M.

tomami wrote:

Hey, they are not public school teachers. They are working for a company that is trying to return to prominence. This is a high stakes game and Marissa wants to be first, number one, the top company and she needs a team of dedicated employees who believe they have the talent and resources to do it. I think it is great she is challenging all her employees to be the best they can be; In these challenging fiscal times she does not have the luxury to keep all of them, so by announcing ahead of time 20% of them are going to be fired it gives them all a chance to show their worth and talent to her and the company. Nothing is hidden, it is out-in-the open. Everyone knows what is expected. The ones who have talent, energy, resourcefulness, ambition, creativity, and fire will survive; the lazy and uninspired will fall to the bottom. Remember, Yahoo! is a public business not an off-shoot of the Obama administration. If you want a week off at Christmas go teach in a public school. There is no free ride at Yahoo! or any other business I know of. You either find a purpose for being or you end up closing the doors on your business. I admire what she is trying to accomplish as CEO. She wants a lean dedicated hard working team and she wants Yahoo! to be number one in the industry. Good for her! I want a CEO that wants their company to be tops in the industry. It is fun to go to work when great things are expected of you and others. It is a drag to go to work when the status quo is the only expectation. When everyone is trying to make Yahoo! number one in the industry than it is fun to go to work and to succeed. If only government workers had the same enthusiasm for success we would not be approaching this fiscal cliff.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 8:32 A.M.

tomami wrote:

Hey, they are not public school teachers. They are working for a company that is trying to return to prominence. This is a high stakes game and she wants to be first, number one, the top company and she needs a team of dedicated employees who believe they have the talent and resources to do it. I think it is great she is challenging all her employees to be the best they can be; In these challenging fiscal times she does not have the luxury to keep all of them, so by announcing ahead of time 20% of them are going to be fired it gives them all a chance to show their worth and talent to her and the company. Nothing is hidden, it is out-in-the open. Everyone knows what is expected. The ones who have talent, energy, resourcefulness, ambition, creativity, and fire will survive; the lazy and uninspired will fall to the bottom. Remember, Yahhoo! is a public business not an off-shoot of the Obama administration. There is no free ride at Yahoo! or any other business I know of. You either find a purpose for being or you end up closing the doors on your business. I admire what she is trying to accomplish as CEO. She wants a lean dedicated hard working team and she wants Yahoo! to be number one in the industry. Good for her! I want a CEO that wants their company to be tops in the industry. It is fun to go to work when great things are expected of you and your boss is enthusiastic and forward looking and wants you to succeed. It is a drag to go to work when the status quo is the only expectation. If you want a week off at Christmas maybe you should teach in a public school. If only government workers had the same enthusiasm for success we would not be approaching this fiscal cliff.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 12:44 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

another of Kara's loving swipes at her favorite target. it never gets old, does it, Kara?

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 2:22 P.M.

H. Craig Bradley wrote:

Jack Welsh's SIG SIGMA ( GE)

What Yahoo is doing is not much different than what former GE CEO Jack Welsh did. Its not a new management innovation, for sure. Instead, its a systemic technique to cull your under achievers. Each year, it gets harder and harder for middle managers to make the cut. Eventually, most of them get the heave-ho. The ones who survive a few years of such culling are presumably the cream of the cream, or at the very least, the most skilled at internal (office) political games found in most Corporate and Government bureaucracies alike.

The Military also has a similar program for its uniformed officers. If an officer gets passed-over three times for a promotion, then he becomes ineligble for future consideration. Every encouragement is then given to retire at the first opportunity, usually when the officer reaches his 20 years of service. Full retirement benefits are granted only with 30 years of continuous service, as is the case with civilian Federal employees.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 5:41 P.M.

caleb23 wrote:

Research firm Dell’Oro calculates that Nokia Siemens Networks surpassed Alcatel-Lucent as the world’s second-place LTE vendor in revenue in the third quarter, which marks a reversal from the second quarter in which Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent led the market in LTE .

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 5:43 P.M.

caleb23 wrote:

The centerpiece of the Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone is the 4.5" PureMotion HD+ screen. But did you know the Lumia 920 has the fastest screen on a smartphone?

The result is crisper graphics and less blurring while scrolling around the screen or playing games.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 5:45 P.M.

caleb23 wrote:

In these recent 2 weeks, Nokia short positions have increased in OMX Helsinki from over 7% to over 10% (we will get the number of NYSE a bit later, the number was over 300 million shares two weeks ago),
still, Nokia has outperformed Apple and Nasdaq index during this said period, meaning the buyers of NOK are starting to be more and stronger then NOK sellers. I believe investors have already started to notice Nokia´s hidden value.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 7:23 P.M.

Tom Shillock wrote:

Given Yahoo's performance perhaps "the bottom 20 percent" should bereviewing the top 1 percent?

NOVEMBER 18, 2012 5:10 P.M.

John wrote:

@ Craig Bradley

You're a little off on military officer's promotion and retention. I can only describe the Air Force's officer promotion system. However, the other branches are nearly identical. Every rank above captain has a 'primary zone' for promotion to the next higher rank. For O-1, O-2, O-3 its based on your time in grade. When someone enters their primary zone depends on the rank they currently hold and the date they earned it. For Lts, both second and first, its two years time in grade to be considered for the next rank. If you're passed over twice for promotion then you're dismissed. For Captain (O-3) and above you can meet unlimited promotion boards and stay at least 20 years so long as the Air Force needs people of your Specialty Code and rank. However, at 16 years of active service the regs read that, 'the member should be retained' and at 18 years it reads, 'the member must be retained'. Thereby pretty much assuring you'll get to 20 years and retirement. Each grade has its own High Year of Tenure at which time the member must retire unless granted a waiver, for Captains it is 20 years, Majors 22 years, Lt Col 26 years. In retirement at 20 years we recieve 50% of our three highest pay years' base pay. So if you made $6k a month base pay on active duty, at 20 years your retirement would be $3k a month. If you go over 20 years you earn 2.5% more of that 50% of your base pay for each you go over 20.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.